James Ransom (Regulator)

James Ransom (1740–1810) was part of the Regulator movement and a delegate to the 2nd North Carolina Provincial Congress from Bute County, North Carolina (now Warren County) in 1775, as well as a member of the Bute County Committee of Safety alongside Jethro Sumner. He was the step-father of Nathaniel Macon and a neighbor of Benjamin Hawkins.[1] He married Macon's mother Priscilla Jones after the death of Gideon Macon.[2]

James Ransom
Born1740
Brunswick County, Virginia
Died1810
Warren County, North Carolina
RelativesNathaniel Macon's stepfather
Not to be confused with James Ransom.

Early life

James Ransom was born about 1740 in Brunswick County, Virginia to Richard Ransom and Frances Hicks.[3][4] Despite his father not being named James, he was often referred to as "James Ransom, Jr", to distinguish him from his cousin James Ransom who married Amy Davis.[5] He married Priscilla Macon in Oxford, North Carolina on February 9, 1763.[6]

American Revolution

Ransom was a "man of energetic Regulator sympathies". "Men like him had begun to call themselves patriots and Sons of Liberty, while labeling their loyalist neighbors Tories, oppressors, and damned rascals".[7][8] He succeeded Osborn Jefferys as sheriff of Bute County in 1771, and was succeeded in that capacity in 1772 by Jethro Sumner. Ransom was a Justice of the Peace and both Ransom and Sumner were members of the Bute County Committee of Safety. Ransom was a delegate to the Second North Carolina Provincial Congress at New Bern in April 1775.[9]

During the American Revolution in 1776, Ransom was appointed superintendent of the North Carolina Gun Works in Halifax, North Carolina.[10][11][12]

Ancestors and relatives

Ransom's great-great grandfather was Peter Ransom, who arrived in Virginia from England, settling in Elizabeth County, Virginia, and served in the House of Burgesses in 1652.[8]

Ransom was the great-grandfather of Confederate generals Matt Whitaker Ransom and Robert Ransom,[13][14] and great-great grandfather of Confederate general John Pegram and artillerist William Ransom Johnson Pegram.[15][16]

Robert Ransom described his great grandfather: "The stories of his costumes and habits all indicate that he possessed a large fortune. He was a man nearly six feet tall with a ruddy complexion. He became very stout in his old age...He divided his large fortune equally among his step children and his own children. He was doubtless a high liver and he was a real English churchman, but with no great piety. He built the first Episcopal church in Bute Co., known as Shocco Chapel."

Marmaduke Johnson, who married Ransom's daughter Hixie Ransom, was the owner of the oldest house in Warrenton.[17] Another daughter, Betsy Ransom, married William Plummer II.[18] Their son James Ransom Plummer was the mayor of Columbia, Tennessee in 1832, 1833, 1834, 1836, and 1838.[19] William's brother Kemp Plummer, the grandfather of Kemp Plummer Battle, was the second owner of Johnson's house.[17] William and Kemp's sister Hannah was the wife of Nathaniel Macon.

References
  1. Map showing homes of some Colonial Families in Old Granville County North Carolina
  2. Dodd, William Edward (1903). The Life of Nathaniel Macon. Edwards & Broughton, Printers – via Internet Archive.
  3. Judah, J. C. (1 February 2008). The Legends of Brunswick County - Ghosts, Pirates, Indians and Colonial North Carolina. Lulu.com. ISBN 9780615175867 – via Google Books.
  4. "Ransone Family". The William and Mary Quarterly. 10 (4): 264–267. 1902. doi:10.2307/1915004. JSTOR 1915004.
  5. Benjamin Ransom McBride (25 August 1993). "James Ransom". Ransom Researcher. M.J. Ransom: 192.
  6. Marriages of Granville County, North Carolina, 1753-1868 p. 276
  7. Wellman, Manly Wade (10 October 2017). The County of Warren, North Carolina, 1586-1917. UNC Press Books. ISBN 9781469617077 – via Google Books.
  8. Marlow, Clayton Charles (1 January 2006). Matt W. Ransom, Confederate General from North Carolina. McFarland. ISBN 9780786427352 – via Google Books.
  9. "Convention of North-Carolina meets, List of the Delegates elected, List of the Delegates present, John Harvey chosen Moderator - American Archives". amarch.lib.niu.edu.
  10. Whisker, James B. (1 January 1997). The American Colonial Militia: The colonial militia of the Southern States, 1606-1785. E. Mellen Press. ISBN 9780773485280 – via Google Books.
  11. Clark, Walter; Carolina, North (25 August 1896). "The State Records of North Carolina" – via Google Books.
  12. Whisker, James B. "An Extract from the North Carolina Militia". Retrieved May 18, 2019.
  13. James Sprunt Historical Monographs. University of North Carolina. 1900. p. 39 – via Internet Archive.
  14. Dowd, Jerome (25 August 1888). Sketches of Prominent Living North Carolinians. Edwards & Broughton, printers and binders. p. 217 – via Internet Archive.
  15. Mooney, Katherine C. (2014-05-19). Race Horse Men. Harvard University Press. ISBN 9780674419568.
  16. Groves, Joseph Asbury (1901). The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina. Franklin printing and publishing Company. pp. 512–515.
  17. "The Marmaduke Johnson House: A Warren County (and national) treasure hidden in plain sight". The Warren Record. Retrieved 2018-09-01.
  18. Groves, Joseph Asbury (1901). The Alstons and Allstons of North and South Carolina. Franklin printing and publishing Company. pp. 512–515.
  19. Robbins, David Peter (17 November 2018). "Century Review, 1805-1905, Maury County, Tennessee..." Board of mayor & aldermen. p. 44 – via Google Books.
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